DIONIGI ATANAGI was born at Cagli, and, after twenty-five years spent at the Roman court, returned, in 1557, to recruit his constitution in his native air. He was invited to Pesaro by his sovereign, at the suggestion of Bernardo Tasso, who wished him to revise the _Amadigi_; but there he found his health still further impaired by mental fatigue. Several of his sonnets are addressed to members of the ducal family and court; one of them, inscribed to Guidobaldo II., lauds him as "a prince and captain of invincible valour, of wisdom superhuman, of bounty and benignity past belief, of ineffable eloquence, of incomparable liberality and magnificence, a paragon of religion, the lofty stay of Italian honour and renown. Being the natural sovereign as well as special patron and singular benefactor of the author, whose every hope rests in him next to God, it is his desire, in the full knowledge how much is due to his Excellency's infinite merits, to fill with heroic praises of him whatever work he may undertake; but overwhelmed by the grandeur of the theme, his silence is broken only by excuses for his deficiency." This fulsome trash is no unfair specimen of such compositions. The following invitation to Urbino, as an asylum of the Muses, is in a somewhat happier vein, which we have endeavoured to render:-- "Anime belle, e di virtute amiche, Cui fero sdegno di fortuna offende, Sì che ven gite povere e mendiche, Come e lei piace, che pietà contende; Se di por fine alle miserie antiche Caldo desio l'afflitto cor v'incende, Ratte correte alia gran QUERCIA d'oro, Ond'avrete alimento ombra e ristoro. "Qui regna un Signor placido e benigno, Ch'altro ch'altrui giovar unqua non pensa, Cortese, e d'ogni real laude degno; Che ciascun pasce a sua ricca mensa, E 'n buon revolge ogni destin maligno, Mentre le grazie sue largo dispensa GUIDOBALDO, di principi fenici, Che può col guardo sol far l'uom felice. "Qui le buone arti ed i nobili costumi, Senno, fede e valor, fido albergo hanno; Qui fioriscon gl'ingegni, e chiari lumi Via più ch'il sol spargendo intorno vanno: Qui mel le piante, qui dan latte i fiumi; Qui pace è queta senza alcuno affanno; Qui 'l vizio è morto, e virtù bella è viva Beato chi ci nasce e chi ci arriva." 1. Ah! beauteous souls, to virtue ever prone, Whom evil Fortune's cruel grudge offends, Bereft of every stay, and left to groan By her caprice, while heavy grief impends; If in your aching hearts that grief evoke A wish such lengthened miseries to close, Speed 'neath the umbrage of the golden OAK To share its genial shelter and repose. 2.